A Durban clinical psychologist and mental health advocate specialising in stress and trauma-related conditions is now a proud holder of a PhD in Health Sciences from UKZN’s School of Clinical Medicine (SCM).
Her study developed an online mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for healthcare professionals (HCPs) working under extreme stress during COVID-19.
Dr Iram Osman (43), also known as Nazia, was supervised by Dr Veena Singaram, Academic Leader of Research in the SCM. She noted that HCPs were pushed to the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic ‘unprepared and resource constrained, which affected their mental well-being.’
The study was conducted online with 55 South African HCPs during the first wave of COVID-19. A mixed methods design was adopted, and the quantitative component included a pre-test-post-test design for paired comparison and regression analysis to confer correlations. ‘Validated instruments included the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, the Big Five Personality Test, the Mindful Self-Care Scale the Perceived Stress Scale and the abbreviated Maslach Burnout,’ Osman explained.
The study found a statistically significant reduction in stress levels and emotional exhaustion as well as an increase in mindful awareness and feelings of personal accomplishment after the intervention. Using visual representations, HCPs were able to share the development of their lived experiences of increased self-compassion as they navigated the dilemmas and disruptions of the pandemic.
‘The participants’ shared experiences initially centred around the themes of loss of control and a sense of powerlessness. They were primarily surviving on autopilot and overwhelmed with anxiety. However, as the sessions progressed, the themes changed to convey a sense of acquired control and empowerment through increased mindfulness. Significant improvements were found in all the post-intervention self-care subscales. These were not influenced by age, years of experience, gender, race or even personality. In fact, the more neurotic the personality, the more the participant benefitted from the intervention.’
Guidelines and recommendations were developed to facilitate the implementation of decolonised MBIs for employee wellness programmes in the clinical workplace and training curricula for healthcare trainees.
Osman conducted similar research on mindfulness during her master’s study with mental health professionals. She said that words cannot express the sense of accomplishment that comes with obtaining her PhD and it was a dream come true. Often heard in radio interviews on her work, Osman is also an avid reader. She writes poetry, enjoys spending time in nature and meditating and creates content for social media on relevant psychological topics.’
Osman said she enjoyed her studies at UKZN and will treasure the memories. She hopes to train further in the field of stress reduction using mindfulness methods, especially with health professionals and help them both in her psychology practice as well as possibly set up group workshops to put the research into practice.
Words: Lunga Memela
Photograph: Abhi Indrarajan